Competing Across Continents: Students from NC State and Universities in Japan Team Up on ‘Robot Gliders’

It’s not every day university students have the opportunity to collaborate across continents. But thanks to a decades-long partnership, NC State Department of Electrical and Computing (ECE) students participated in a friendly competition with students …

It’s not every day university students have the opportunity to collaborate across continents. But thanks to a decades-long partnership, NC State Department of Electrical and Computing (ECE) students participated in a friendly competition with students from two universities in Japan, Gifu University and Nagoya University.

On March 2, students from all three universities competed in a “robot glider” competition. The objective was to have the glider, or unpowered aircraft, fly as far as possible in a straight line from where it was launched with a rubber band.  

“The goal is to have [the glider] elevate itself to a reasonable height and then slowly glide in order to go as far as possible while maintaining a level balance via code on the glider itself,” NC State student Nicholas Farley said. 

Each glider contains a flight controller chip, sensors, a battery, and servos (a device that converts an electronic request to motion) that connect the three main control surfaces: the aileron, elevator and rudder. Ailerons control the roll of an airplane, elevators control the up and down motion and rudders control the side-to-side motion.

Competing teams consisted of NC State ECE senior design students and Nagoya, Gifu aerospace students. NC State senior Kenny Nguyen was excited to be involved in the hands-on project.

“Actually being able to build something, it’s fun,” Nguyen said. “It’s what everyone thinks of when they think of engineering.”

The competition was hosted at NC State’s Carmichael Gym; student groups took turns launching their gliders with a rubber band and watching them soar. 

While it took some trial and error to get the glider airborne, Nagoya University student Shota Nakaki was glad he participated and was able to meet other engineering students

“It was very fun,” Nakaki said. “I could interact with many students in this university, so it was a very good experience for me.”

Nguyen shared the same sentiment.

“It’s made me grow more interested in collaborations with unique organizations – people that aren’t just local to what I’m used to at NC State, being able to apply my skills beyond what I'm used to and hopefully exploring new fields and opportunities,” Nguyen said.

After sharing ideas and working in collaboration with one another, the students’gliders successfully traveled the length of two full basketball courts in a straight line. 

After the competition, students reflected on the project together, sharing ideas and plans for improvement. Overall, this competition was a great way for both the NC State and Japanese students to learn about one another’s cultures, learning and teaching styles.